Hey, guys!! Oh my goodness… it’s been SO LONG since I’ve posted anything on TFG!!! I have SO much to talk about, and I don’t know if you want to read it all, but here it is anyway.

I got back on Animal Jam for the first time in, like, a year. A whole lot has changed – too much for me. {2much4me.} My friend wanted his account back, but it still had most of my stuff on it, so I’m pretty bummed about that. I’m still a non-member, which I don’t really care about, but it irritates me that it’s such a pay-to-win game.

Speaking of pay-to-win games, I kind of dropped Diablo III. Actually, it got accidentally deleted when we were cleaning out the computer. Instead, I started playing another RPG instead, and this one’s free: RIFT. It’s not exactly new; I played it back in 2011 when it was fresh out of beta, but at $15 a month it was WAY too expensive to play for long. The good news is, it’s now free to play, except for a couple optional in-game purchases to get more currency, objects, etc. I’ve already played to level 38.

I owned a Minecraft server for about three months, but it got a bit boring, so it’s getting closed. It’s difficult to do anything other than vanilla, and I didn’t really know how to code, so I just played vanilla survival with Amber, Celestia, and a couple people on Planet Minecraft.

Speaking of Planet Minecraft, I got a name change, got to level 45, and rose quite a bit in the popularity scale. My skins have improved a TON.

Well, I guess that’s about it. Thanks for reading my long string of nothingness!

Take Our Poll
Hey, guys! So, today I’ll be talking about the new Minecraft update that was released last Tuesday. It was supposed to come out in June, but Mojang came up with some cool new stuff to add to it, so its official release date was September 2nd. Now, there are a lot of mixed opinions about this update, including its ridiculous lag and the fact that it’s “ruining” Vanilla gameplay, but I personally think it’s a big step forward in Minecraft’s history, and here’s why.

The Skins
Oh my goodness, the 1.8 skins!! I was so excited when they added this. Instead of the old format, in which there was only a 3D layer over the head and the arms and legs had to be symmetrical, the new 1.8 format allows a “hat” layer over the entire body and asymmetrical arms and legs. You may not think this is a huge development, but it’s an enormous change for us Minecraft skinners. It allows so much more to be expressed on one skin.
Skin WITH 1.8 layer

Skin WITHOUT 1.8 layer

The Mobs

For a lot of people, this is the most noticeable feature in 1.8. Two new mobs were added: the bunny and the guardian. The bunnies come in a few different colors like the horses and behave like ocelots, except that they can be tamed with carrots instead of fish. They spawn naturally in forests and fields and, very rarely, will spawn as “the Killer Bunny of Caerbannog” as a Monty Python and the Holy Grail reference. The guardians spawn in pairs or small groups in the new underwater ocean temple and will try to kill players on sight with laser beams they shoot out of their eyeballs. Minecraft is getting pretty creative, don’t you think?! Also, rabbits will drop rabbit meat, sheep drop mutton, and villagers will replant and harvest their crops.

The Blocks

Several new blocks were added as of 1.8. Three of them, different types of prismarine, can be obtained through killing the guardian mobs mentioned above. There are also six different kinds of stone – diorite, andesite, and granite – with polished versions of each one. Sponge now spawns naturally, and turns into wet sponge when it gets into water. Bouncy slime blocks can now be crafted from slime balls, and there are also several new blocks that spawn in the ocean temples.

The Commands

I honestly know next to nothing about the new commands. Sorry this section isn’t very helpful, but all I know is that they were added. The only commands I know how to use fluently are /summon, /time, and /gamemode, all of which are old commands and not 1.8 features. Sorry, guys.